JWCC breaks ground for Workforce Development Center expansion

More than 75 people attended the official groundbreaking ceremony for John Wood Community College’s Workforce Development Center expansion project Wednesday morning.

“This expansion project, along with the new JWCC Agricultural Sciences Complex near Baylis, demonstrates the College’s continued commitment to the district and our industry partners in the Tri-State region,” said JWCC President Michael Elbe. “John Wood continues to invest in workforce training in the areas of manufacturing, agriculture, transportation/logistics, health sciences and many other career technical programs.”

The project is assisted by a federal grant that was awarded to JWCC in June 2021.  The total project estimate is supported by the $3.033 million federal grant. The contracted firms are Klingner & Associates/BLDD and Maas Construction.  Estimated project completion date is the fall of 2023. 

“The College is expanding our career education programs, and these training programs all require physical space to conduct hands-on training,” said Andy Sprague, JWCC Board of Trustees secretary. “Leveraging federal grant dollars is an excellent opportunity to provide in-demand programs and state-of-the-art facilities for this region to support the workforce needs of the Tri-State area.”

Once completed, the project will provide state-of-the-art training opportunities for students to gain relevant skills in the most in-demand fields to meet the area’s work force needs, creating and retaining head-of-household positions, attract private investment and strengthening resiliency throughout the region.

“With the workforce needs of our employers constantly changing, it is important we have a partner like John Wood Community College whose workforce programs are continuing to evolve at the same time,” said Great River Economic Development President Kyle Moore “This new expansion will be vital to offer up-to-date training for in-demand skills such as robotics, welding and automation.”

The expansion will add 14,170-square-feet to the WDC facility located at 4220 Kochs Lane in Quincy and includes a new Truck Driver Training addition, expansion of the east side with a new physical building entrance, expanded space for HVAC, and business and industry training. A remodel of the current interior of the building will include expanded space for welding, industrial maintenance and manufacturing, robotics and automation, and flexible use space for new programs such as a virtual reality lab. A new vehicle road entrance off 42nd Street will lead to a larger parking area.

“It is exciting to be here as JWCC continues its expansion and commitment to grow the Workforce Development Center which will increase skills in our local workforce.  This is another positive step forward for our region,” said Quincy Mayor Mike Troup.